Eye on Dalit votes, Kejriwal to visit Dera Sachkhand Ballan on Mar 15

As announced by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders earlier that the party’s focus would now be on strengthening its grip in Doaba in the coming few months, party convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will visit Dera Sachkhand at Ballan village of this district on March 15.

As announced by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders earlier that the party’s focus would now be on strengthening its grip in Doaba in the coming few months, party convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will visit Dera Sachkhand at Ballan village of this district on March 15.

The dera has a strong sway among the Dalits across Doaba and in other parts and political parties try to woo it to tilt political equations in their favour. A senior official of the dera management talked about Kejriwal’s visit.

When contacted, AAP organisation-building head in Punjab Durgesh Pathak shared the itinerary saying Kejriwal would “reach the dera around 4pm”, after visiting former BSP supremo Kanshi Ram’s family in Rupnagar and paying obeisance at the Kiratpur Sahib gurdwara. The dera is situated around 7 km from Jalandhar.

It is for the first time that the Delhi CM will visit a dera with a view to garnering political support for his party.

Kejriwal’s move to visit the dera has come against the earlier “moral stand” of the party against the proliferation of deras in Punjab. In an interview to Hindustan Times during his previous tour to Punjab in February, when he was asked about his view on “dera politics”, he had denied commenting on it saying his party was beyond the politics of religion and caste.